I can't wait to write a defense of the drone strike that takes out Julian Assange

What should we make of his statement? It’s not Grunwald as an individual … it’s the mindset of the entire political class.

Under both Bush and Obama, when bad government policy leads to bad results, the government manipulates the data … instead of changing policy.

As part of that effort – on the one hand – “reporters” who never criticize the government in more than a superficial fashion are protected and rewarded. And the government has repealed long-standing laws against using propaganda against Americans on U.S. soil. And the government also manipulates social media. More proof here and here.

On the other hand, the government has taken to protecting criminal wrongdoing by attacking whistleblowers … and any journalists who have the nerve to report on the beans spilled by the whistleblowers.

The Obama administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other presidents combined.

And it goes out of its way to smear whistleblowers, threaten reporters who discuss whistleblower information and harass honest analysts.

As we noted last year:

Wikileaks’ head Julian Assange could face the death penalty for his heinous crime of leaking whistleblower information which make those in power uncomfortable … i.e. being a reporter.

Establishment figures – such as Andrew Sorkin and David Gregory – have also called for Glenn Greenwald (the reporter who broke NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s story) to be arrested.

Journalism is not only being criminalized in America, but investigative reporting is actually treated like terrorism.